Advertising Programs
Thursday, July 15
3 pm
to
3:45 pm
4 pm
to
5 pm
Rock Star Advertising Roundtables
We're not talking about just any old roundtables here. We're talking Bryan Adams, Canadian-rocker, pull-out-all-the-stops style roundtables. We're going to rock your advertising world with our 15-minute round-robin discussions that allow you to sit in on all three topics and learn:
• How Salt Lake City Weekly built a list of 20,000+ subscribers to five newsletters that sell out each week.
• How East Bay Express leverages beer sales sponsorships to yield 50k in revenue -- and has beer companies clamoring to get on board.
• How NOW Magazine developed an incredibly successful revenue niche in brokering pre-printed inserts.
• How Salt Lake City Weekly built a list of 20,000+ subscribers to five newsletters that sell out each week.
• How East Bay Express leverages beer sales sponsorships to yield 50k in revenue -- and has beer companies clamoring to get on board.
• How NOW Magazine developed an incredibly successful revenue niche in brokering pre-printed inserts.
Moderators:
Jody Colley, East Bay Express, Jim Rizzi, Salt Lake City Weekly and Pam Stephen, NOW Magazine
Host:
Blair Barna, Charleston City Paper
Jody Colley 
Jim Rizzi is publisher of
4:30 pm
to
5:30 pm
Town Hall Meeting: Admittance of online pubs
Admittance of online publications to AAN would require a bylaws change. Members will have a chance to weigh-in on this potential move at this moderated town hall meeting.
Moderator:
Tim Redmond, San Francisco Bay Guardian
Tim Redmond is executive editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian and AAN first amendment chair.
Friday, July 16
9 am
to
10 am
Seizing Opportunity in a Time of Chaos and Change: Some Inspiration from the Front Lines of Independent Journalism
From Guatemala to Indonesia and Russia to Zimbabwe, Media Development Loan Fund serves independent news outlets that have managed to survive and prosper in countries facing wrenching political and economic transitions, while making critical contributions to the advancement of democratic development there. Harlan Mandel, MDLF's deputy managing director, will share the stories of some of these heroes of journalism and how they seized opportunities during times of chaos and change to build successful news businesses. Perhaps these stories can offer some hope and inspiration for all independent news publishers as they navigate this challenging time of dramatic change for the whole news industry.
Speaker:
Harlan Mandel, Media Development Loan Fund
Harlan Mandel is deputy managing director of
10:15 am
to
11:15 am
Local Online and Mobile Ad Spending and Trending
You probably know how much online advertising revenue you're making with your Web site, but do you know whether you're doing better or worse than everybody else in online sales? Borrell Associates has agreed to conduct a benchmarking report for newsweeklies' online revenues and will outline the results in this session. Learn where your paper stacks up against other AAN members.
Speaker:
Andrew Martin, Borrell Associates
Andrew Martin is a senior associate with
11:30 am
to
12:45 pm
Selling Has Nothing to Do with Selling
Join Richard Farrell for a lively walk-through of his unique nonselling sales process and gain an understanding of:
•Why most sales organizations are very good at a game no longer being played.
•Why selling by its very nature so often produces the exact opposite effect that is intended.
•Why the salesperson with the best understanding of the customer's problem will consistently outsell the salesperson with the best solution, the lowest price and the most innovative product.
•Why selling is simply a quest for the truth.
•How salespeople position your offering in the exact opposite manner that your customers are buying.
•How salespeople overcommunicate your sales message and how it forces customers to undercommunicate their problems.
•How to differentiate yourself, not by what you sell, but by how you sell.
•How the greatest enemy of selling is the illusion of it.
•Why, if your customers have no problems, you have nothing to sell.
•Why most sales organizations are very good at a game no longer being played.
•Why selling by its very nature so often produces the exact opposite effect that is intended.
•Why the salesperson with the best understanding of the customer's problem will consistently outsell the salesperson with the best solution, the lowest price and the most innovative product.
•Why selling is simply a quest for the truth.
•How salespeople position your offering in the exact opposite manner that your customers are buying.
•How salespeople overcommunicate your sales message and how it forces customers to undercommunicate their problems.
•How to differentiate yourself, not by what you sell, but by how you sell.
•How the greatest enemy of selling is the illusion of it.
•Why, if your customers have no problems, you have nothing to sell.
Speaker:
Richard Farrell, Tangent Knowledge Systems
Richard Farrell is president of
2 pm
to
3 pm
What on Earth Do You Pull Out of Your Hat Now?
You've been focused on doing more with less, for too long…
In a competitive market that is challenging every assumption and actively reinventing itself from the bottom up, your business model is going through more contortions than you could have dreamed, even five years ago. The only thing you know for sure is your cost structure; your revenue model is completely up in the air. Traditional sources are drying up faster than new ones can be found and tapped, and the only thing you've known for certain is that you've had to cut costs to survive. You must grow your balance sheet and not by acquiring assets or committing to new expenses, but through the contribution and ROI you are receiving from your existing capital base -- primarily your human capital.
Jan van der Hoop of HiringSmart, offers organizations a proven approach to staffing that leads to better business results. He will take you through a step-by-step process that will help you and your organization:
• Understand the factors that drive performance and productivity
• Discover what characteristics separate top performers from poor performers
• Learn how to measure what matters
• Plan concrete steps to improve your top line and your bottom line
In a competitive market that is challenging every assumption and actively reinventing itself from the bottom up, your business model is going through more contortions than you could have dreamed, even five years ago. The only thing you know for sure is your cost structure; your revenue model is completely up in the air. Traditional sources are drying up faster than new ones can be found and tapped, and the only thing you've known for certain is that you've had to cut costs to survive. You must grow your balance sheet and not by acquiring assets or committing to new expenses, but through the contribution and ROI you are receiving from your existing capital base -- primarily your human capital.
Jan van der Hoop of HiringSmart, offers organizations a proven approach to staffing that leads to better business results. He will take you through a step-by-step process that will help you and your organization:
• Understand the factors that drive performance and productivity
• Discover what characteristics separate top performers from poor performers
• Learn how to measure what matters
• Plan concrete steps to improve your top line and your bottom line
Speaker:
Jan van der Hoop, HiringSmart
Jan van der Hoop spent more than fifteen years in senior human resources positions with a number of leading corporations, including Hilton International Hotels, PepsiCo and Office Depot. Through his work, Jan developed a clear understanding of the issues and challenges people face in the corporate trenches, along with some insights into how he could help organizations work smarter. As a result in 1998, Jan founded The People Factor -- a training and coaching organization that worked with companies to build their organizational capacity, grow their people and improve their bottom line performance. In eight years, he built an impressive client roster across North America, including Nissan Canada, Procter & Gamble, State Farm and Sleep Country Canada. In 2006, Jan partnered with Tim Brennan to launch HiringSmart in response to a demand from his clients to improve their bottom line results by changing the way they hire.
3:15 pm
to
4:15 pm
SMO -- Social Media Optimization
Simon Owens, social media consultant, online journalist and founder of Bloggasm, will provide demonstrations on how he pitches bloggers, social media users, and online journalists to secure hits for articles and stories. In addition to showing the different measures for gauging reader engagement and how to retain more long-term readers, he will discuss the impact of online social news communities like Digg and Reddit and how to solicit help from those communities to drive traffic. Most importantly, Simon will stress the importance of journalists maintaining their own personal online "brands" that exist outside the publications for which they work. He will also present the results of a social media survey sent out to AAN member papers.
Speaker:
Simon Owens, Bloggasm
Simon Owens is a 26-year-old social media consultant and online journalist. Over the years, Simon has secured hundreds of placements on top blogs and social news sites for clients. He has conducted digital PR for both major and small brands and has driven millions of page views for clients, getting them on the front pages of Technorati Top 100 blogs and major social news sites like Digg and Reddit. Simon has been interviewed by reporters from numerous newspapers, television and radio programs about his expertise in new media. His blog, The Localization Movement
The Localization Movement, popularized with "Shop Local" programs in cities throughout the U. S. and Canada, is a perfect match for altweeklies. Moderator Jody Colley, East Bay Express, will find out what altweeklies are doing in their communities, showcase the success stories and present the challenges. Participants will have time to talk about the opportunities that have yet to be explored.
Moderator:
Jody Colley, East Bay Express
4:30 pm
to
5:30 pm
Renaissance or Ruin? Finding Your Way to Opportunity After the Fall
Patricia Martin, expert on commerce and culture, and author of the book, "RenGen: Renaissance Generation," reveals what to expect from the coming cycle of re-birth. Known for using culture as a medium to reach communities of consumers, Martin takes you on a journey to the heart of the social movements forming the next wave of prosperity. Having worked with some of world's most respected brands including Dannon, Discovery Channel, Microsoft and Target, Martin delivers:
• Competitive insight -- Discover how independent news and information fit into the next cycle of cultural change.
• Innovative ideas -- Get insight from the rarely revealed social experiments of Google, Red Bull, Ford Motor and others to engage your audience in new ways.
• Strategic thinking -- Create emotional bonds with your community that translate back to your advertisers.
• Competitive insight -- Discover how independent news and information fit into the next cycle of cultural change.
• Innovative ideas -- Get insight from the rarely revealed social experiments of Google, Red Bull, Ford Motor and others to engage your audience in new ways.
• Strategic thinking -- Create emotional bonds with your community that translate back to your advertisers.
Speaker:
Patricia Martin, LitLamp Communications
Patricia Martin is an author and noted expert on commerce and culture. She is CEO and founder of Saturday, July 17
9 am
to
10 am
iPad: New Opportunities for Content Creators
iPad: It ain't gonna save us...but our papers look great on it, and we can make some money off it! With the launch of the iPad, Apple is creating a third category of mobile devices positioned between smartphones and laptop computers. The bad news is, it's not going to save newspapers by itself. The good news is, our content--and our ads--look fantastic on it. There is money to be made and there's an opportunity for AAN papers to create digital versions of their products with innovative features, such as gps targeted ads and listings, to make the digital paper reading experience profitable and enjoyable to the reader. Hear from both outside experts and AAN papers that are investigating iPad development and business opportunities.
Panelist:
Raven Zachary, Small Society
Raven Zachary is president of
10:15 am
to
11:15 am
Mobile Application Development -- Bringing Home the Bacon!
There is a sea-change occurring in the way people are interacting with the internet. More and more, consumers are using mobile devices as their connection to content. The choices facing content providers are as important as they are confusing. What platforms are out there? What devices? Where should I spend my development dollars? And most importantly, How do we make money with this?! This session will explain the current state of mobile use and explore the choices that are out there for AAN papers to move content onto these remarkable devices. We will talk about some of the models for income generation in the mobile world. There is a tremendous opportunity to reach an incredibly large and diverse audience with both content and advertisements. From iDevices to Androids, we will cover what you need to know to make the right choices for mobile development.
Speaker:
Brian Gentry, Chilly Primitive, LLC
Brian Gentry has been working in the fields of software architecture and application development for 15 years. He has led development efforts to push computing to mobile handsets for clients in the transportation, insurance, financial, and medical industries, integrating legacy systems with modern mobile hardware. He currently is the president of
11:30 am
to
12:30 pm
Classifieds: Have you abandoned ship or built yourself a lifeboat?
In this session, we'll review the results of an AAN questionnaire to learn how various AAN papers have dealt with the issue of traditional classifieds over the past year. Find out which papers are still having success in sustaining a traditional print classifieds, what special issues or categories are being sold right now, how classified staff resources are being deployed and how some members have taken a different approach all together.
Moderator:
Carol Flagg
Panelist:
Cassidy Frazier, The Austin Chronicle
Looking for Your Audience
Who is the audience of the alt-weekly these days? What audience should an alt-weekly be seeking? Is there a way to embrace the traditional alt-weekly audience and a new audience? And how does an alt-weekly physically find their target audience and ensure that their newspaper gets to that audience? Keying in on both research and business strategies, Henry Scott, VP and Chief Marketing Officer for Creative Loafing Inc., will address these questions and more in this insightful session.
Speaker:
Henry Scott, Creative Loafing Inc.
Henry Scott is an experienced journalist and media business executive who currently is vice president/chief marketing officer for Creative Loafing Inc. Before joining CL Media in January 2010, he was managing director of Gansevoort Media, a strategic planning and product development firm focused on the internet, magazines, and the newspaper industry; managing director of Metro New York and group publisher for Metro US; president of Out Publishing; and was with The New York Times Company in a number of positions. Henry, who lives in Atlanta, is a member of the International Newspaper Marketing Association, among other organizations. He is the founder of the North American Free Daily Newspaper Association.
2:30 pm
to
3:30 pm
Change your Promotions from Added Value to Revenue Generating
With the right mindset and department participation, you can turn your "added value" promotions into significant revenue generators.
Learn how some papers have embraced:
• Converting grandfathered clients used to getting "free" promotions to paying for them.
• Re-structuring promotional contests and movie screening efforts.
• Establishing a process for getting paid promotional opportunity leads from editorial.
• Creating big, exciting promotions that bring in big, exciting revenues.
• Converting grandfathered clients used to getting "free" promotions to paying for them.
• Re-structuring promotional contests and movie screening efforts.
• Establishing a process for getting paid promotional opportunity leads from editorial.
• Creating big, exciting promotions that bring in big, exciting revenues.
Moderator:
Jay Stinson, NOW Magazine
Panelists:
Marty Griswold, Index Publishing and Colby Roberts, Seven Days
Jay Stinson After 33 years in television and radio promotions, Jay joined host paper 
Marty Griswold in a career spanning some 18+ years in the publishing world, has worked at The Rocket magazine, SF Weekly and currently serves as the sales & marketing director for Seattle's The Stranger and as regional sales director for Index Publishing. Marty's contributions to the business have been marked by great strides in increased revenue, high profile event planning, and the launch of innovative ideas that have garnered both fiscal and creative success within the industry. In recent years, his efforts have contributed to the unparalleled online achievements of The Stranger and sister publication, The Portland Mercury, that have set new standards within the alternative weekly digital world. Marty is also known to be somewhat of a whore when it comes to generating untapped revenues through non-traditional means, which means he is quite at home at The Stranger.
3:45 pm
to
4:45 pm
AAN Convention Fishbowl
Convention what? No, there's no water or goldfish or tiny castles involved, just the unleashed creativity and knowledge of convention attendees. Various forms of "unconference" sessions have become de rigueur at conferences of late, and for good reason: attendees have a lot to offer and interaction enhances learning. Although AAN has a tradition of offering "unconference-type" programming, we'll take it a step further with the fishbowl. Or fishbowls. Attendees will have a chance to submit discussion topics on Thursday and Friday. A facilitator will review the ideas in advance and assist attendees in forming groups and determining the exact style of the fishbowl. There may be one, there may be several. There may be flipcharts, there may not. It may run longer than 4:45 pm. It's up to you! What better way to wrap up the 2010 Convention
Moderator:
Susan Percy, MacGrercy Consultants
Susan Percy is the founder of Toronto-basedPlease note: Programming and schedule subject to change.
Hosted By
Registration
Deadlines
Sponsors
Exhibitors
